Shadow turned the man over warily, tilting his head away. But he reluctantly looked down, and saw only the blood that had seeped down from the other side. "It didn't go through," he said, and then he jerked his chin up to prevent the vomit that was suddenly in his mouth from making the journey all the way out. It nearly succeeded anyway when he tried to swallow it; having had nothing for breakfast, it tasted aweful. He tried not to hunch over and let it come. So he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut, opening it to try and spit would only send him heaving. For some reason, he felt very sick now. Sodom and the blood were still warm but he thought he could feel both getting colder. Wake up, he thought, remembering Gilligan. Through all this he failed to even recognize the minds humming in his head. He had not blocked them out, but he was too absorbed in the situation to take notice of them.

In a world of darkness and echoes, he wasnt sure which way was up and which way was down, he didnt know where he was, where he was going or where he had been, he couldnt feel anything under him, around him or even above him, and he couldnt move. Were his eyes just closed and refused to open? No, he would still know what was going on then surely, his other senses would still work. Was this Sodom's doing? It could be, after all, he had broken into his mind earlier. Wait. The last thing Gilligan remembered was trying to save some one from being attacked maybe? Or was it attacking some one? He wasnt sure, his memory was a little blurry. Maybe he had been knocked out? No, surely not, otherwise he wouldnt be aware of himself.

As the thoughts flew through his mind, Sodoms control over the body ebbed away and Gilligan regained control of his senses again slowly. First, he began to hear echoes, people talking and calling out, very distorted to begin with but getting gradually clearer until he managed to understand them. Some one had been shot, but he wasnt sure who, and people were trying to help how they could.

Then he began to smell, oddly at first, the distinct scent of a woman, he couldnt pick who, but it was familliar and definitely female, and hints of a male too not far away. The earthy scents of the ground and outdoors began to overwhelm those olfactory deductions and then they were all over powered by the metallic smell of blood. Blood that he could suddenly taste in his mouth too.

And then it was on in a rush, his other senses, in a torrential influx of information, began to work, screaming at him for attention to this and that. He could taste the blood, feel it in his mouth on his tongue, and so he spat it out. But his sense of touch increased, spreading through his body in a wave towards his feet. As it reached his stomach, a scream of pain erupted from his throat. His belly felt as though it were on fire from the inside. He thrashed his arms and legs against the pain, but only feeble twitches resulted. He was weak from the wound and groggy from Sodoms unexpected departure from his mind.

His sight, like his sense of touch, began to return too, first a lightening of the darkness, then to blurry, distorted shapes, then to vaguely coloured shapes, and finally, things began to gain clarity, definition, and shape. He realised he was laying on the ground looking out towards the grounds outside the ward. His collar was gone, and Shadow was there holding him, as was Ava, while others stood around.

He groaned, dribbling a mixture of blood and saliva in his groggy, weakened state, the fire in his belly screaming in his head and threatening to make him pass out.

"What the HELL happened?" was the first clear thought to come to his mind, followed closely by "What the hell has the clown DONE to me?" He wondered at the answer to these questions as he lay on the ground outside the complex bleeding out with each beat of his heart.

Hayley rushed outside with the supplies to help Sodom. As she neared the door she felt something weird. Hayley stopped for a minute and reached out to the minds around her. Gilligan woke up! Hayley rushed out to the yard and dropped down next to Gilligan and the girl. "I got the supplies you needed." She said, panting.

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(Sorry. The other girl hasn't posted.)

Shadow jumped when he heard Gilligan speak. Well, there went his whole dillema of having trouble swallowing vomit. He'd just have to save the queasiness for a better time. "Y-you were shot. I don't think the clown did," he replied softly, shrinking back and holding Gilligan at more of an arm's length now. Of course this made it a little more difficult and his arms started to quiver every so often, just faintly. "Oh," he added sheepishly. "And you fell off the roof. Well...not you, your body." It was complicated trying to talk to someone with more than one personality, he knew from experience with himself. "Ava hurry! He's still bleeding!" he said as he saw Hayley bring her share of the supplies back. He trembled as he felt the girl peek into his own mind and forced a moment of anger at her away. All this talk was not natural for Shadow and his voice had already begun to periodically crack.

Hayley ran back into the hospital and grabbed the supplies from the other girl. She ran back out and put it on the ground with the other supplies. Gilligan was still bleeding pretty bad and Hayley thought Shadow looked a little sick. She turned to the girl, Ava she got from Shadow's mind. "You better hurry." Hayley took a step back from Gilligan and sat on the ground. She took another piece of glass from her pocket and slashed it across her wrist. "Don't. Fix him. Not me." She said to Ava, knowing that she would try to heal the cut.

Ava cursed as Gilligan began to scream. "Stop. I know it hurts but stop. You're loosing too much blood and the deprivation of oxygen from you screaming makes it worse." She told Gilligan. "Lay a blanket or something under him," she said to Shadow. She gave him a quick glance over. "Don't vomit," she warned, before turning back to Gilligan.
She grabbed a needle laid out beside her, one full of anesthetics, and her hand shook violently. She jabbed the needle into Gilligan's arm, wincing as she did so. She pushed down on the syringe, the anesthetics flowing into his blood stream. She pulled it out and ripped off her shirt sleeves, leaving it now looking like a tank top. She wiped away the blood from the needle hole with one sleeve and dabbed hydrogen peroxide on it. She tied the other sleeve around it. "I can't remove the bullet physically. It would be too much pain for him and too dangerous," she said aloud to the others. She sighed and closed her eyes, holding in a deep breath. In her mind a video like image rolled through her head over and over. It was of the bullet slowly but painlessly exiting Gilligan's stomach and laying softly on the ground.

Ava's eyes opened and she suddenly felt exhausted. The bullet lay on the ground beside her and she sighed in relief. "Stay awake, stay awake," she whispered to herself. She knew she didn't have enough energy to heal the wound with her abilities, so she grabbed one of the wash cloths. She dunked it into one of the water buckets and pulled it back out. She began wiping the blood from around and on the bullet hole. "Shhhh," she whispered to Gilligan. She dunked the wash cloth into the second bucket of water, squeezing the blood out of it. She dunked it into the fresh one and continued cleaning the wound.

After generally cleaning the bullet hole, Ava took the second wash cloths and poured hydrogen peroxide on it. "This may sting, bite onto this to keep from screaming," she instructed Gilligan, gently placing a clean wash cloth in his mouth. She wiped the hydrogen peroxide dipped wash cloths onto the wound with her left hand, wincing a bit. She glanced to Hayley and tossed her another wash cloths, and pushed the clean bucket of water to her. "Clean it, then wrap some sort of cloth around it to stop the bleeding," she told Hayley before turning her head back to Gilligan.

Hayley winced as Ava helped Gilligan. She licked the blood off her arm, not caring who saw her. When Ava was cleaning Gilligan's bullet wound with peroxide she threw a washcloth with peroxide on it to Hayley and told her to clean her cut. Hayley glared at Ava but took the washcloth. She waited for the cut to stop bleeding and licked the blood up. She wiped the cut with peroxide but didn't bother wrapping it.

Shadow nodded his head, and the nausea obediently began to subside. This whole Great Escape seemed to be taking its tole on everyone. "Quit hurting yourself. It's for attention, isn't it?" he quickly snapped hatefully at Hayley, removing his jacket and slipping it underneath Gilligan. He couldn't stand people who hurt themselves, much less other people. "Don't go back to sleep," he hissed at the man, seeing Ava administer the anesthetic. "The madman'll come back." He sat back on his haunches and waited, watching the bullet seemingly remove itself and glancing curiously at Ava from time to time.

Hayley sat shocked when Shadow snapped at her. "I would NEVER do ANYTHING for attention! I don't like attention! Why do you think I turn invisible sometimes?" Hayley snapped back. She crossed her arms carefully and dropped to the ground. She sat by Gilligan's head as Ava continued to help him. Once in a while she would uncross her arms to lick up a drop of blood that had escaped from the cut.

((will reply tomorrow, off for the night))

(Okay. I'm getting a headache from staring at the screen anyways. Haha.)

Ava nodded to Shadow. "Thanks," she said, nodding to him. She glanced at Hayley and then back to Gilligan. She finished sanitizing the wound and began to dress it in a sheet one of the girls had brought her. Ava jerked her head up. "Stop arguing! You're not making the situation any better!" She barked, a glare on her face. She continued wrapping the sheet around Gilligan's torso. "Check if there are any safety pins in the nurse's office, one of you," she said, nodding to Shadow and Hayley. She didn't absolutely need the safety pins, but they would help in keeping the sheet tightly together around Gilligan, and it would separate the two, at least for a little bit.

Shadow growled low in his throat looking away from Hayley as he saw her began to pout. "Only because you have the power to." He was in a bit of a riled up mood, his personalities melting into one to create a rather bipolar version of Shadow. Putting a knee up, he placed his hand on it and lifted himself and began walking stiffly toward the hospital. Once inside, however, alone amoungst nothing but the dead, his quiet fearful self returned. He felt more normal than he had in a while. He searched the labelled nurse's office like a squirrel, very warily and light on his feet, ready to jump up a tree if danger arose. It was deathly silent. With no minds to worry about getting in, he let his mind relax and roam, and it was both a relieving and frightening feeling, letting his guard down that much. In the cabinets, he found gauze, bandaids, ibuprofen, stitching materials, medical files, but no safety pins. Finally he decided to check the last place, the medicine cabinet behind the tiny mirror in that room. He opened it, heard an soft hissing noise, did not wait to identify what it was, and abruptly shut it again, almost shattering the glass of the mirror. Nurses's desk, he decided. He found two large safety pins in the little tray of the top drawer and upon looking more thoroughly, found another, miniature one. The desk drawer was shut quietly, and yet the sound echoed. Shadow gulped, clutching the pins in his fist.

"Get any pain killers," she shouted to Shadow. She hoped he would be OK in the hospital, knowing it was freaky in there, especially it being quiet and empty. "Thanks!" She called out as loud as she could. She noticed her personalities hadn't really slipped in a while. Besides the sudden anger burst at Hayley and Shadow, she had been doing fine. She lifted Gilligan up slightly. "Hayley, try holding his head and torso up more so I can wrap the sheet tighter around him," she suggested. Wonder how he's going to walk, Ava wondered, then cursed under her breath. "I need to go in there, find a wheel chair or something, and check on Shadow. Keep wrapping the sheet tightly," Ava said and jogged into the hospital. She glanced around a bit uneasily. "Shadow?" She called, beginning to walk to the nurse's office.

Hayley sighed and scooted closer to Gilligan to wrap the sheet around him. She sat him up slightly and picked up the end of the sheet. She began wrapping tightly, but not tight enough to harm Gilligan. When Hayley was at the end of the sheet she lay Gilligan's head in her lap and waited for Ava and Shadow to come back out. "What's taking them so long?" She wondered to herself.

((Going to wait for Shadow or Gilligan))

Shadow heard the echo and returned back for the pain killers he had found, and upon scrounging deeper into a lower cabinet, discovered a bottle full of something called "morphine sulfate". He put it in his pant pocket anyway. Suddenly, he heard his name and jumped up so fast that he smack his head on the inside of the cabinet. He didn't yelp or curse, he was too surprised to. As quickly as he could he began building up his mental wall before he could even think about answering. "Y-yes?" he replied shakily, rubbing his head and backing out of the cabinet slowly on his hands and knees. He saw Ava enter and held up his findings to her like a proud kindergartener. "Will these work?"

Ava smiled at him. "Perfect," she said and nodded her thanks. She stuck the pill bottle in her pocket and held out her hand to help pull him up. "We also need to find a wheel chair, it will be too painful for him to walk," Ava said, glancing around. She remembered that wheelchairs were often kept in nurse bathrooms and she wondered if there would be one in there. Her mind churned and she felt a flash of anger, her body tensing. A particular memory from when her father had punched her in the chest, breaking her ribs so she had to use a wheel chair, flashed into her mind. She glared into space, but then shook it off and smiled at Shadow, her hand still reaching out to help him.

Hayley sat with Gilligan's head in her lap, waiting for Ava and Shadow to come back. "What is taking them so long?" She wondered out loud.

Shadow took her hand and began pulling himself up when he felt a wave of anger wash over him and the seering pain of having his ribs broken in his mind. He yelped and nearly fell back to the floor again. He had almost forgotten that contact made mind reading even harder to stop. Holding Sodom hadn't even registered as dangerous for some reason, probably because the man had quickly fallen into unconsciousness and all thoughts had pretty much ceased. He tried not to show how shaken he was to Ava, brushing himself off and nodding back to her, forcing a small smile to be returned to her as well.

Ava's face went pale and she leaned over beside him, putting her hand out under his back to keep him from falling completely over. "I'm sorry. Are you OK?" She asked, recalling that Shadow also had a power. He had sounded like he was in severe pain and she hit a realization. When they made contact, he felt her memory and the pain and emotion brought with it. She wiped all memories out of her mind for his sake.

Hayley sat with Gilligan's head in her lap, waiting for Shadow and Ava to come back out. "Where are they?" She wondered aloud, looking back at the hospital entrance.

"I-it's not your fault," he said, giving her an apologetic smile. "I'm okay." He pushed himself up and tried to not act like he was in too much of a hurry and he stood and took a safe step back. He felt empathy for this girl, having shared her thoughts. The closest he had come to a pain like that was having his mother force him to throw up his dinner when she had caught him eating. He also felt curious about her now, but he would never dream about asking her any personal questions. And he knew she would no appreciate it, sensing any reminiscent thoughts vanish from her mind. "...We should get back outside," he mumbled after a moment, glancing out of the office into the hall and politely forcing his mind back into his own head.

Hayley heard Shadow and Ava walking down the hall in the hospital. "Thank you!" She thought out loud.

Ava smiled back at him. She wondered what he was thinking as he looked at her. She tried her best to keep her horrid past out of her mind, but a few flashes of being punched, burned, cut, and kicked floated through her mind. She averted her eyes, hoping he wouldn't sense the memories. "Fine by me," she said and began walking out. She debated telling him of her past, and she glanced at him again, eyeing him for a second. She heard Hayley's voice, though far off, and wondered how they were doing. "Hold on," Ava said and walked to the nurse's bathroom. She saw a blue wheelchair and smiled, folding it out and pushing it ahead of her. She rejoined Shadow and smiled. "Almost forgot this," she said with a small chuckle.